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 JHK fter school, 8-year- on the screen. Your brain then video games can strengthen
J W ^k old Griffin Higdon sends messages to your spinal motor skills, memory, and
can usually be cord. This tube-like structure other skills. That's because
f°und playing directs the signals through when you repeat an action,
Mm M m video games. bundles of fibers called nerves messages travel along the same
One of his favorite games is to your hand. You press a button, pathways in your brain over
Minecraft. He and his friends causing your game character and over again. Over time,
from school meet up in the to move. All this happens in the paths become stronger
game's online world and work less than a second (see Inside and the action gets easier.
together to build castles. "We the Gamer's Brain, below). Because video games are
plan out what we want to build Pressing a button is an repetitive, they can help people
during recess,” Griffin says. example of a motor skill. Playing learn all kinds of skills, says
Griffin isn't alone in his
love of video games. In the
U.S., about 64 million kids
InsideitheTGametisjBrain
between the ages of 2 and 17
play them. That’s 97 percent
of kids in the country!
But since video games ^ Areas in your CEREBRUM
I became popular in the 1980s, receive sensory information and
help you respond by solving
| many adults have worried © Your EYES and
problems and planning strategies.
other sense organs
g_ about how they affect young
carry information
I I players. Over the years, about the video
4 = scientists have researched game to your brain.
<=.
1S what happens inside a person s ^ Your
I £ brain when he or she plays SPINAL
CORD
IS video games. What they have carries
s | learned might surprise you! signals to
your body’s
system of
Brains at Play
I! Your brain is involved
nerves.

Is in everything you do, from

31 walking to class to talking
with friends to playing video d NERVES
games. Different parts of your tell your
muscles to
brain control different actions.
move at just
When you're playing a video the right
game, you're using areas of moment.

your cerebrum, the part of your

brain that solves problems. It
9 ; Think: What other senses might a person use to play video games?
receives information from your
eyes about what’s happening

SCHOLASTIC.COM/SUPERSCIENCE 5
Matthew Barr. He’s a video game of accomplishment you feel taking away video games won’t
researcher at the University when you reach a goal. That’s solve the problem, she says. It’s
of Glasgow in Scotland. Barr caused by a chemical produced more important to understand
studies how multiplayer video in your brain. It’s a great feeling! what causes kids to play for
games can help improve But it can keep people playing too long. Talking to a doctor
teamwork. "If characters have the games for hours on end. or therapist could help too.
different abilities, one player That can be a problem. Kowert has another concern
can't do everything,” says Barr. Doctors recommend that kids about video games: bullying.
“That promotes cooperation.” spend less than two hours a day Today, most games are
using screens, such as phones, connected online. This setting
P la y in g L im its tablets, and computers. Playing makes it easy for kids to pick on
Part of the fun of video video games for longer can cut others. That’s why it’s important
games comes from the sense into time kids should spend to only play with people you
doing physical activities that know and trust in real life, says
keep their bodies healthy. Kowert. And if you see someone
Rachel Kowert is a behaving badly online, block the to ec
O uj

psychologist who studies person and let an adult know.

video games. She says that
when kids seriously struggle G a m e s fo r G ood
Switch ,o a new activity every
to put down the controller, If gamers follow certain
2 0 minutes so your eyes can rest
it could be a sign of a mental guidelines (see Smart Playing,
***y If you witness bullying, block 11
health concern, such as left), most experts agree,
the person and le t an adult know.
depression. In that case, video games can have many
•••;• Never p lay online gam es with
benefits—including social
people y„n don't know in real life.
O ©
u ■-
<± uT
M in ec raft is the O q:

world’s most
popular video game,
with more than 170
million copies sold. O z:

5c *

;EBRUARY 2020
 STEP 2:
B rainstorm

how to w rite directio n s to te ll

OBSERVE V id e o gam es are so m eo n e how to m ake th e

played on com puters. To e x a c t d raw in g . R em em b er

design a v id eo g am e, p eo p le yo u r p a rtn e r can only move

create a co m p u ter program , th e pencil as you say.

a set o f instructions th a t te lls
STEP 3 : W rite th e directions
a co m p u ter w h a t to do.
and give th e m to a p artner.
DEFINE THE PROBLEM This p a rtn e r w ill be yo u r
ones. “Games can strengthen Can you direct a hum an “ com puter.” Can yo u r p a rtn e r
relationships because they're a
“ com puter” to d raw a house d ra w e x a c tly th e sam e house
shared activity/' says Kowert.
using w ritten instructions? as yours on grid paper?
Today, designers are making
•T h e house should have a roof, STEP 4: Evaluate your
video games for purposes
beyond entertainment. Physical at least one w in d o w , and at instructions. If your
therapists are using games to least one door. instructions d id n ’t w o rk,
help build patients' strength •T h e com puter m ust perform re w rite and retest th e m .
and balance. Other games are actions based only on the
CONCLUSIONS
being used in classrooms. Barr instructions.
1 . W h a t w o rked in your
is excited by the good games can
•In stru ctio n s can only describe instructions and w h a t d id n ’t?
do. “Hopefully the potential of
how th e pencil should move.
video games will be recognized 2 . Com pare your instructions
more and more," he says. MATERIALS
w ith th o se o f an o th e r group.
— Jennifer Hackett grid p a p e r • pencil • eraser
Did th e y do s o m e th in g th a t

w o rked better?
DESIGN A SOLUTION
words to know STEP 1: D raw a s im p le house 3 . W h y m ig h t it be im p o rta n t
c e re b ru m -th e p a rt o f th e on a s h e e t o f grid p aper. fo r p eo p le to give clear
brain th a t processes th o u g h ts
and solves p roblem s
instructions to a com puter?

s p in a l to r d —a cord a lo n g th e
back th a t carries sig n als
b e tw e e n th e brain and th e
b o d y ’s system o f nerves
KATE FRANCIS (COMPUTER SPEAK ILLUSTRATION)

n e rv e — a b u n d le o f fibers th a t
carries m essages b etw een th e
brain and o th e r body parts

rniDtor s k ill—th e coordin atio n

o f m uscle m o vem en ts w ith
v is u a l in fo rm atio n

d e p re s s io n — a m ood d iso rd er
m arked by e x tre m e sadness
and in a c tiv ity
N
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